[Introduced February 1, 2012; referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary; and then to the Committee on Finance.]

____________

A BILL to amend and reenact §29-21-13a of the Code of West
Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to the compensation and
expenses for attorneys appointed by circuit courts in child
abuse and neglect proceedings.

Be it enacted by the Legislatureof West Virginia:

That §29-21-13a of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 21. PUBLIC DEFENDER SERVICES.

§29-21-13a. Compensation and expenses for panel attorneys.

(a) All panel attorneys shall maintain detailed and accurate
records of the time expended and expenses incurred on behalf of
eligible clients and upon completion of each case, exclusive of
appeal, shall submit to the appointing court a voucher for
services. Claims for fees and expense reimbursements shall be
submitted to the appointing court on forms approved by the
executive director. The executive director shall establish
guidelines for the submission of vouchers and claims for fees and
expense reimbursements under this section. Claims submitted more
than ninety calendar days after the last date of service shall be
rejected unless, for good cause, the appointing court authorizes in
writing an extension. Provided, That Claims where the last date of
service occurred prior to July 1, 2008, shall be rejected unless
submitted prior to January 2, 2009.

The appointing court shall review the voucher to determine if
the time and expense claims are reasonable, necessary and valid,
and shall forward the voucher to the agency with an order approving
payment of the claimed amount or of a lesser sum the court
considers appropriate.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the
contrary, Public Defender Services may pay by direct bill, prior to
the completion of the case, litigation expenses incurred by
attorneys appointed under this article.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section to the
contrary, a panel attorney may be compensated for services rendered
and reimbursed for expenses incurred prior to the completion of the
case where: (1) More than six months have expired since the
commencement of the panel attorney's representation in the case;
and (2) no prior payment of attorney fees has been made to the
panel attorney by Public Defender Services during the case. The
executive director in his or her discretion, may authorize periodic
payments where ongoing representation extends beyond six months in
duration. The amounts of any fees or expenses paid to the panel
attorney on an interim basis, when combined with any amounts paid
to the panel attorney at the conclusion of the case, shall not
exceed the limitations on fees and expenses imposed by this
section.

(d) In each case in which a panel attorney provides legal
representation under this article, and in each appeal after
conviction in circuit court, the panel attorney shall be
compensated at the following rates for actual and necessary time
expended for services performed and expenses incurred subsequent to
the effective date of this article:

(1) For attorney's work performed out of court, compensation
shall be at the rate of $45 per hour. For paralegal's work
performed out of court for the attorney, compensation shall be at
the rate of the paralegal's regular compensation on an hourly basis
or, if salaried, at the hourly rate of compensation which would
produce the paralegal's current salary, but in no event shall the
compensation exceed $20 per hour. Out-of-court work includes, but
is not limited to, travel, interviews of clients or witnesses,
preparation of pleadings and prehearing or pretrial research.

(2) For attorney's work performed in court, compensation shall
be at the rate of $65 per hour. No compensation for paralegal's
work performed in court shall be allowed. In-court work includes,
but is not limited to, all time spent awaiting hearing or trial
before a judge, magistrate, special master or other judicial
officer. Attorneys who are appointed to represent parties in child
abuse and neglect proceedings under article six, chapter forty-nine
of this code shall be compensated at the rate of $95 per hour for
work performed in court, upon certification of training required
under section two, article six, chapter forty-nine of this code.

(3) The maximum amount of compensation for out-of-court and
in-court work under this subsection is, as follows: for proceedings
of any kind involving felonies for which a penalty of life
imprisonment may be imposed, the amount as the court may approve.
For all other eligible proceedings, three thousand dollarsproceedings, the maximum amount is $3,000 unless the court, for
good cause shown, approves payment of a larger sum. Attorneys who
are appointed to represent parties in child abuse and neglect
proceedings under article six, chapter forty-nine of this code,
shall be compensated at the rate of $95 per hour upon certification
of specialized training required under section two, article six,
chapter forty-nine of this code.

(e) Actual and necessary expenses incurred in providing legal
representation for proceedings of any kind involving felonies for
which a penalty of life imprisonment may be imposed, including, but
not limited to, expenses for travel, transcripts, salaried or
contracted investigative services and expert witnesses, shall be
reimbursed in an amount as the court may approve. For all other
eligible proceedings, actual and necessary expenses incurred in
providing legal representation, including, but not limited to,
expenses for travel, transcripts, salaried or contracted
investigative services and expert witnesses, shall be reimbursed to
a maximum of $1,500 unless the court, for good cause shown,
approves reimbursement of a larger sum.

Expense vouchers shall specifically set forth the nature,
amount and purpose of expenses incurred and shall provide receipts,
invoices or other documentation required by the executive director
and the State Auditor:

(1) (A) Reimbursement of expenses for production of
transcripts of proceedings reported by a court reporter is limited
to the cost per original page and per copy page as set forth in
section four, article seven, chapter fifty-one of this code.

(B) (i) There shall beis no reimbursement of expenses for or
production of a transcript of a preliminary hearing before a
magistrate or juvenile referee or of a magistrate court trial where
suchthe hearing or trial has also been recorded electronically in
accordance with the provisions of section eight, article five,
chapter fifty of this code or court rule.

(ii) Reimbursement of the expense of an appearance fee for a
court reporter who reports a proceeding other than one described in
subparagraph (i) of this paragraph, is limited to $25. Where a
transcript of a proceeding is produced, there shall beis no
reimbursement for the expense of any appearance fee.

(iii) Except for the appearance fees provided in this
paragraph, there shall beis no reimbursement for hourly court
reporters' fees or fees for other time expended by the court
reporter, either at the proceeding or traveling to or from the
proceeding.

(C) Reimbursement of the cost of transcription of tapes
electronically recorded during preliminary hearings or magistrate
court trials is limited to $1 per page.

(2) Reimbursement for any travel expense incurred in an
eligiblea proceeding is limited to the rates for the reimbursement
of travel expenses established by rules promulgated by the Governor
pursuant to the provisions of section eleven, article eight,
chapter twelve of this code and administered by the Secretary of
the Department of Administration pursuant to the provisions of
section forty-eight, article three, chapter five-a of this code.

(3) Reimbursement for investigative services is limited to a
rate of $30 per hour for work performed by an investigator.

(f) For purposes of compensation under this section, an appeal
from magistrate court to circuit court, an appeal from a final
order of the circuit court or a proceeding seeking an extraordinary
remedy made to the Supreme Court of Appeals shall beis considered
a separate case.

(g) Vouchers submitted under this section shall specifically
set forth the nature of the service rendered, the stage of
proceeding or type of hearing involved, the date and place the
service was rendered and the amount of time expended in each
instance. All time claimed on the vouchers shall be itemized to the
nearest tenth of an hour. If the charge against the eligible client
for which services were rendered is one of several charges
involving multiple warrants or indictments, the voucher shall
indicate the fact and sufficiently identify the several charges so
as to enable the court to avoid a duplication of compensation for
services rendered. The executive director shall refuse to
requisition payment for any voucher which is not in conformity with
the record keeping, compensation or other provisions of this
article or the voucher guidelines established issued pursuant to
subsection (a) of this section and in such circumstance shall
return the voucher to the court or to the service provider for
further review or correction.

(h) Vouchers submitted under this section after July 1, 2008,
shall be reimbursed within ninety days of receipt. Reimbursements
after ninety days shall bear interest from the ninety-first day at
the legal rate in effect for the calendar year in which payment is
due.

(i) Vouchers submitted for fees and expenses involving child
abuse and neglect cases shall be processed for payment before
processing vouchers submitted for all other cases.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to increase the hourly rate
for attorneys who are appointed in child abuse and neglect matters.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.